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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: QwikSand who wrote (14047)	1/28/1999 11:12:00 AM
From: Rusty Johnson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

Jini: Start Of 'Semi-Open' Source Movement nytimes.com By Malcolm Maclachlan for TechWeb, CMPnet This time next year, people might be talking about the semi-open source movement. That is, if Jini catches on. Sun Microsystems released the new Java software platform Monday to let developers connect a wide range of devices to a network -- from PDAs to household appliances. As bait to lure people to the platform, Sun released Jini under an arrangement that shares some elements with open source, but lets developers keep more of the innovations they make. Open source is a model by which programmers, working independently, make changes to a piece of code. They can release commercial products based on the code, but they sign an agreement guaranteeing they will offer improvements back to the code base. This model is the basis of Linux, a free version of Unix whose popularity is growing. In April, Netscape opened up the source code to its Communicator browser through the Mozilla.org source-code efforts. Both Linux and Mozilla have become huge thorns in the side of Microsoft. Sun is famous for being an archrival of Microsoft, even before the two went to court over Microsoft's alleged misuse of its Java technology license. But with Jini, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun isn't just trying to appeal to hard-core programmers working independently. It has to sell consumer-electronics companies on the idea and get them to come out with Jini-enabled products quickly, industry observers said. Microsoft has its own solution in the works -- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)-- with partners such as Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. The Redmond, Wash.-based software titan will distribute the first developer's kit in April. Sun's solution is the Sun Community Source License, or SCSL. This agreement releases the Jini code to anyone who wants it. Unlike many other open source-type arrangements, users can keep what they make. With the exception of bug fixes, developers are not required to give back to the source pool. Dozens of partners have signed onto the idea, including industry giants such as America Online, IBM, and Sony. The only fee Sun is charging is for the Jini logo, which companies can use to help sell compatible devices. This fee tops out at $250,000 per year. "As a businessman, I like [SCSL] more than the free software license," said Gene Mosher, contributor to the Slashdot.org open source site. "I do think it will be the deciding factorfor many companies when they decide whether to apply their resources to developing Jini software and products instead of UP&P software and products." The SCSL, Mosher said, gives companies a choice between Microsoft's most likely proprietary arrangement and an open source contract, which would demand it radically change their business model. Another member of the open source community was not so enthusiastic. Eric Raymond, an open source advocate who recently published the Halloween Document, which showed Microsoft plans to combat Linux, said the fact that companies won't have to contribute defeats the purpose. "Reaction to it in the open source community has been a loud 'pthfthfthtfht!' and rightly so," Raymond said. "It betrays an utter failure to understand either the community or the dynamics of open source development." From Sun's perspective, one question remains -- if anyone can work with Jini, what's to stop Microsoft from taking the code and trying to turn it into something that subverts that platforms original promise? This is the basis of Sun's ongoing lawsuit against Microsoft over Java. Bill Joy, co-founder and chief scientist at Sun, said he doesn't see this happening. "I don't think they will touch it," Joy said. "It's too dangerous."